Chapter 8 - Guess who's coming to dinner

All canon characters belong to JKR.

Thank you to June for helping me with her beta work and suggestions.

Chapter 8 – Guess who's coming to dinner

Hermione returned home with Viktoria and began to put the house in order. As she was picking up some dolls and teacups from the living room, Severus appeared to her.

"Well?" he asked as he followed her around.

"Well," she said as she continued her cleaning. "The book is being published. The larger percentage of the profits will be coming to me, of course. Mr. Mercury expects that that they should be in several bookshops by this weekend."

He smiled. He had hoped that the book would be successful, and that it would allow her a bit of financial freedom. She continued her cleaning as he stood next to the window. Severus wondered why she was so frantic about picking up the few things in the living room, and then followed her as she walked to the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" he asked suspiciously.

"What does it look like I'm doing? Can't a person do away with some clutter?" she answered.

"Clutter, yes; but you can hardly call Barbie and Ken sitting on the side table clutter." He approached her, and noticed she had taken a small chicken out of the refrigerator and began to prepare it for roasting. "You have invited someone to dinner. Please don't tell me you have invited that Mercury person to dinner?" he asked.

"No, no. Mr. Mercury isn't coming to dinner." She then mumbled an almost inaudible name.

"What was that you said? Whom did you invite here?" he asked.

"I invited Reginald to dinner," she said, turning around.

"What? You invited a stranger to dinner?" he bellowed.

"He's hardly a stranger."

"Very well. Where does he live?"

"I'm not quite sure."

"Where did he attend school?"

"I don't know."

"Does he make his living writing, or does he have another job?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, knowing full well what he was doing.

"He's never actually told me," she snapped.

"How old is he? Who are his parents? Does he have brothers or sisters? He could be an ex-Death Eater, for all you know," he hissed.

"All right, all right, you've made your point. But, I have invited him to dinner, and you will not, I repeat, not in any way do anything to cause trouble," she lectured.

Severus narrowed his eyes.

"I won't? And how exactly are you going to stop me?" he said with the most evil smirk she had ever seen him wear.

She blanched.

"Professor, please. I am asking you, no, begging you. Please don't do anything to scare him off."

He frowned and turned toward the cellar door.

"You don't like this person, do you?" he asked quietly.

"As you pointed out, I don't really know him. It's just dinner, Professor. He saw me this afternoon and asked me to have lunch with him. I wanted to come home so I told him that I didn't have time for lunch, and before I knew it I was asking him to have dinner here. It's nothing, really." She wondered why she felt the need to make him understand she had no interest in Reginald, even though she herself was confused about her feelings, especially as it had only been a few months since Viktor's death.

She found Reginald to be a pleasant man ... also charming, rather witty, and very easy on the eyes. She found herself wanting to know more about him, just as she also found herself wanting to keep from hurting Severus' feelings. Severus had disappeared. She sighed and went about the task of making dinner.

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As expected, Reginald showed up on her doorstep at six o'clock. He had in hand a bouquet of chrysanthemums. All in all, the evening went on with little drama. Viktoria was a bit quiet and shy, but polite. Hermione spent the first half-hour wondering when Severus would pop up and say something uncalled for. But he did not. He was visibly absent.

After Hermione put Viktoria to bed, she walked Reginald out to the front door. It had been a long time since she had enjoyed the company of a man who seemed attracted to her. Reginald had been a perfect gentleman. As he left, he kissed her hand and asked Hermione if she and Viktoria would have a picnic with him that coming weekend. She happily agreed. They settled on a time, and he bid her goodnight.

When she went upstairs, she expected Severus to be waiting for her in her room, but he was not there either. She sadly wondered if she would see him at all in the next coming days, as she drew the covers over herself and settled into sleep.

As she finally fell asleep, Severus appeared over her bed. His face was a collage of emotions. He first felt anger towards her for inviting that buffoon to his, no, her home. Then he felt jealousy towards the man who was now in the midst of courting her. Finally, Severus felt sadness. He knew that she was not only developing feelings towards her new friend, but she also had feelings for him as well. It was something Severus could detect. It would not bode well for a healthy living woman to fall in love with the ghost of a Death Eater, who was seemingly in some sort of purgatory. He wondered if he would ever be able to wander out of the confines of his former property. He reached out slightly to touch Hermione, then thought better of it. Why torture himself more any more than he had to.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The week went by, and Hermione only caught a glimpse here and there of Severus. She left him alone and didn't try to seek him out. He was obviously still upset about dinner the other night, so she felt she would just give him some time and he would at some point get over it.

Saturday came, and Reginald showed up at her door at the appointed time. She gathered some things for Viktoria to occupy herself with, and the three of them walked out into the field behind the house. Hermione watched as Reginald attempted to fly a kite he had brought along with him, for Viktoria. As she sat on the blanket, she felt a chill.

"What in blazes is he doing now?" asked the familiar deep voice behind her.

She smiled and looked over her shoulder to see him.

"He is flying a kite."

"Why?" asked Severus, as he sat next to her.

"Because it's fun," answered Hermione.

Severus rolled his eyes.

"Fun would be flying on a broom. Fun would be blowing rose bushes to bits. Look at him," Severus said, nodding his head towards Reginald, who was now entwined in the kite string. "At this rate, the man will wind up hanging himself before he even gets that thing up in the air." He began laughing.

"Oh, stop." she said, chuckling. The two sat there in silence for several moments. Curiosity got the better of her, so she decided to ask him what had him so absent that week.

"I hope you weren't upset because of Reginald. I've hardly seen you this week," she said as nonchalantly as she could.

"I had not noticed I was gone long. I do live in a different plane of existence; time for me is of no consequence." He lied. He knew exactly how long he had been avoiding her. Severus felt a stabbing at his heart when he saw Hermione clapping at the fact that Reginald finally was able not only to disentangle himself from the kite strings, but he actually got it off the ground. Viktoria was laughing and running after the kite, reaching for it.

"Well, at least he seems to know how to do something right," Severus huffed.

Just then, an owl flew down and settled itself on the blanket. It was a large brown owl, one she had never seen before. She took the note it offered her from its leg, and she instantly beamed.

"It's from Mr. Mercury!" she yelled. Viktoria and Reginald immediately began to run towards her. She turned to look at Severus, but he had already disappeared.

"What does it say, Mummy?" asked Viktoria excitedly.

"It must be about the sales. Didn't you say the book would be on sale today?" asked Reginald.

Hermione unwrapped the note and began to read it out loud.

Dear Hermione,

W. Mercury

Severus stood behind a large elm tree and smiled. All this time, he thought his life had meant nothing ... that the sacrifices he made for the betterment of the wizarding world would be forgotten, and that no one would care. And now, his life's story was the talk of the wizarding world. Today was a happy day for him. He looked at Hermione, being hugged by Reginald, and his happiness was replaced by envy.

But his envy was not towards Hermione, it was towards the buffoon that now had his arms wrapped around her and Viktoria. Severus turned towards the house and walked away, finding he couldn't stomach the scene any longer.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sorry, for some reason this chapter got chopped up.